UW News

May 18, 2006

Ron Irving named A&S interim dean

News and Information

Ronald S. Irving, who has been divisional dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the UW since 2002, has been named interim dean, effective July 1, pending approval by the Board of Regents. He will replace David Hodge, who has accepted the presidency of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Irving has been professor of mathematics at the UW since 1988. He was chair of the department from 2001 to 2002.

“It is always difficult to lose an exceptional dean like David Hodge,” said UW Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Phyllis Wise, “but we are very fortunate to have Ron as a member of the leadership team in Arts & Sciences. He knows the college and the work of the dean’s office very well and will provide excellent leadership in the interim. He is committed to the values of the college and especially to the centrality of the liberal arts and sciences to higher education. I look forward to working with him.”

As divisional dean, Irving has oversight for 11 departments in the mathematical, physical and life sciences.

Irving received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from Harvard in 1973 and his doctorate in mathematics from MIT in 1977. He has been at the UW since 1980.

Irving received the UW’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001 in recognition of his work in teaching courses for future secondary school teachers in the undergraduate mathematics program.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the heart of the UW, providing the breadth and depth of a liberal arts education to more than 25,000 students while advancing research in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. More than two-thirds of all UW students are enrolled in Arts and Sciences, with 73 percent of undergraduate credit hours and 88 percent of freshman credit hours in the college. College faculty continue to receive national and international appointments and awards, and four Arts and Sciences graduates have been named as Rhodes Scholars in the last six years.